The interview process for appointing guest faculty in the Journalism and Mass Communication department at Jadavpur University was cancelled on Tuesday after protests broke out over the presence of a professor in the selection panel.
The walk-in interview was scheduled to begin around noon. It was meant for recruiting guest teachers for the Journalism and Mass Communication course. However, the process could not start after a group of students raised objections to the inclusion of a certain Professor Santwan Chattopadhyay in the interview board.
Students alleged that the professor had earlier faced serious accusations related to academic duties. According to the protesters, past complaints claimed that he had awarded marks to examinees without properly checking answer scripts. Reports had also alleged that he often did not take scheduled classes. These issues had earlier triggered controversy within the university.
Protest over professor's presence in panel
Students questioned how a professor facing such allegations could be part of a panel responsible for evaluating candidates for teaching posts. They gathered outside the interview venue and raised slogans demanding changes in the interview board.
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Members of the interview panel later said the situation became disruptive and the interview process had to be called off. Some panel members described the development as unfortunate and warned that repeated disruptions could affect the academic functioning of the university.
Authorities cancel interview process
Seeing the situation escalate, the university authorities cancelled the entire interview process. The head of the department was not present at the interview.
Sources within the university said there had been earlier disagreements over the composition of the recruitment committee. One source claimed that the head of the department had informed the vice-chancellor that if additional faculty members were included in the panel beyond the HoD, Dean of FISLM, and external professors, a resignation could follow.
However, the authorities explained that the decision to include Santwan Chattopadhyay was linked to administrative restructuring planned for April. The Adult, Continuing Education, and Extension department is expected to be divided into two separate schools, and senior faculty members are involved in departmental matters.
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While Professor Chattopadhyay demanded disciplinary action against those involved in the chaos, Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) representative Professor Rajeshwar Sinha has condemned the incident.
What are the allegations against involved professor?
Professor Santwan Chattopadhyay of the Journalism and Mass Communication department at Jadavpur University faced serious allegations in 2024 over irregularities in the evaluation of postgraduate examination papers. Students accused him of awarding marks in internal and semester examinations without actually checking the answer scripts. This triggered protests and complaints to the university administration.
The controversy intensified when students also alleged that Chattopadhyay had not been regularly taking classes and had shown negligence in academic responsibilities. As per students of the department, his classes were also boycotted for multiple semesters after the allegations surfaced, along with Prof. Abhishek Das, against whom similar allegations were made.
Following the complaints, the university issued a show-cause notice to the professor and initiated a review of the answer scripts through external experts to verify the allegations. The episode led to protests in the department and demands for disciplinary action from students.
